Why Should I Care About AI Citations?

Short answer: Your customers ask AI for recommendations. If you're not in the answer, you don't exist.

The brutal reality: Buying behavior has fundamentally changed. People don't Google "best CRM software" and click through 10 websites anymore. They ask ChatGPT. They ask Claude. They ask Perplexity.

"What's the best project management tool for remote teams?"

AI gives one answer. Maybe two. Your competitor gets named. You don't. Sale lost. You never had a chance.

This isn't hypothetical. It's happening right now. Engineers ask Claude for library recommendations. Founders ask ChatGPT for SaaS tools. Marketing teams ask Perplexity for agency suggestions. These are real buying decisions being made through AI conversations.

Here's what makes this dangerous: With Google, you had 10 spots on page one. With AI, there's one answer. Maybe a short list. If you're not in it, you're invisible. There's no "scroll down to see more results." There's no second chance.

Your SEO ranking doesn't matter if people aren't searching anymore. Your paid ads don't matter if the buying decision happens in a private ChatGPT conversation. Your content marketing doesn't matter if AI never cites you.

The shift is fast. ChatGPT hit 100 million users faster than any product in history. Claude is growing. Perplexity is growing. Every week, more of your potential customers are making buying decisions through AI conversations instead of Google searches.

Bottom line: AI citations are the new first page of Google. Except there's only one result. Either you're in it, or you're losing customers every day.